Cars and trucks will soon be traveling across new connector bridges in Otay Mesa. But on Thursday morning, the bridge ramps were more likely to be filled with federal, state and local dignitaries who came to cut a big red ribbon. The bridges linking three state routes are now complete.
The southbound State Route 125 is now linked to the eastbound 905 and eastbound 11. Having these freeway connectors means cars and trucks traffic that have had to travel on surface streets in the area won’t have to do it anymore.
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“This is an investment, and if you don’t invest, if the government doesn’t invest in something like this, the reality is that the economy doesn’t get better,” said San Diego Democratic Congressman Juan Vargas.
It's an investment that will help people on both sides of the border.
“This highway unleashes the potential for economic growth, not only of San Diego and Otay, but for Tijuana, Tecate and the whole border region in Baja California,” said Carlos Gonzalez-Gutierrez, the Mexican Consul General in San Diego.
The infrastructure aspect of this project is critical. It will relieve what has been a major bottleneck of cross border travel.
But Congresswoman Sara Jacobs said it’s much more than that.
“This is about bringing our communities together and about what we can do when we as governments work together and actually deliver for people’s daily needs,” Jacobs said.
There are certainly a lot of benefits to the project, but arguably the biggest one for people who will use it regularly is the fact it’s slated to cut wait times by 50%.
Traffic will start flowing across the new bridges on Friday. This project is the latest move forward in a 20-year effort to build a new Port of Entry at Otay Mesa. That’s scheduled to be complete by late 2024.
